Sebastian Godenhjelm

Research areas

Description of research and teaching

Sebastian Godenhjelm is a university lecturer at the Swedish School of Social Science (SSSS). Godenhjelm has previously worked as a visiting researcher at Cornell University, a coordinator for the research and coordination centre FO-RUM, a Planning Officer for the Department of Political and Economic Studies as well as an Administrative assistant in political science at the SSSS.

Godenhjelm has also worked as a senior officer at the Ministry of Justice, and has conducted several evaluations for the Ministry of Labor and the Economy, the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture as well as the think tank MAGMA. He is a member of the board of the Finnish Section of the Nordic Federation of Public Administration (NAF) and has previously been a member of the board of the Nordic Political Science Association (NoPSA) and the secretary of NAF. He is also a member of the Special Interest Group (SIG-13) on public sector project management and has been a board member of the Finnish Political Science Association (VTY).

TeachingDuring his employment at the SSKH Godenhjelm has participated and participates in the planning and teaching of several courses at Bachelor relating to for instance political and legal structures in Finland, administrative politics, as well as organizations and their political influence. His current teaching includes courses related to collaborative and interactive governance, project governance and innovation, political theory as well as research methods. Godenhjelm also participates in the supervision of Bachelors and Masters thesis work at the SSSS. He is involved in the planning of a new masters program in health management at the Department of Political Science, has planned the thematic study program on Communication in the public sector as well as Swedish language master level education in administration and organizational studies at the Department of Political and Economic Studies. He is also the coordinator of the leadership studies involving four different faculties.

Research interestsGodenhjelm´s research interests centres around public management, participation, actors and processes in regional development in Finland. The research area is linked to the relationship between traditional forms of governing versus new forms of governance often charatterised as temporary network type project organizations.

The research particularly focuses on temporary organizations and their implications on citizens, democracy and legitimacy.